SLT establishes goals for next 18 months
By Kathryn Reed
A to-do list filled a large swath of one wall inside the South Lake Tahoe City Council chambers. These were the marching orders delivered to staff by council for the next 18 or so months.
Upon completing a multi-day strategic planning session, the electeds a week ago today reconfirmed projects on the list as well as added new things for staff to accomplish. The time period coincides with how long this council will be together until the next election.
While not everyone was in agreement that everything should be done, at least three people said each item is a priority.
A fee study is going to be conducted. This will show what the actual cost of a service is. It will also reveal what is being subsidized by the general fund or some other pot of cash.
Instead of continuing to take a hodgepodge approach to improvements at Bijou Community Park, a master plan for the facility will be created.
Lake Tahoe Airport’s lobby doubles as the entrance to South Lake Tahoe’s city offices. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Mayor Hal Cole lobbied hard for the airport lobby to be overhauled at an expense of about $200,000 so it is reinvented into a true city hall.
Councilman Tom Davis sees this as a complete waste of money. Councilman Austin Sass advocated for not only renovating the lobby, but expanding the offerings so Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority has a presence and possibly the U.S. Forest Service. The latter could issue wilderness permits from there.
Those in support of the upgrade believe this will give locals something to be proud of – a city hall for the first time in the city’s 50-year history. Plus, it could be a destination of sorts for tourists.
A sampling of other items in the work plan include:
• Capturing more revenue through vacation home rentals, business licenses and transient occupancy tax;
• Complete Tahoe Valley Plan;
• Improve how the town looks;
• Increase hotel occupancy;
• Analyze return on invest;
• Better retention of employees, especially in the fire department;
• Expand recreation;
• Tackle single room occupancy hotel problem;
• Create events center;
• Decrease the cost of Cal-Tahoe JPA;
• Citywide area plan;
• High quality housing for all income levels;
• Improve stormwater system;
• Broaden public outreach;
• Create better, stronger partnerships.
A piece that has been missing from previous powwows like this is a discussion about how the council would measure success.
The work was placed under one of six categories, with some overlap:
• Fiscal sustainability
• Improve built environment
• Economic development
• Public trust and accountability
• Quality core services
• Partnership development.
City Manager Nancy Kerry wanted the council to look at why they wanted something to be done. It’s up to staff to figure out how they get done. The items will be added to the business plan and brought back to the council for adoption in May.
Number one priority above is “capturing” vacation home rental revenue. What is the rush folks, you already have let many millions of dollars of TOT slip through your butter fingers over the past decade.
Good to know you are right on top of this.
PATHETIC incompetence.
But don’t forget, the currently serviceable airport lobby NEEDS a makeover.
Expand Recreation. A lot of the current council eliminated the experienced FT Recreation professionals. Done during Tony’s questionable overpaid leadership.
So now they know Recreation has value. Classic.
I don’t see any reason to renovate the Airport City Hall – it is a multi-purpose facility that seems to work fine. We need to be proud of what our leaders at City hall DO to make us proud – we don’t need another construction project to watch. However, I am interested to know more about the development of the 12 acres at the airport as an event venue (return on investment versus no ROI from a remodel of the airport lobby.. ) Recreation and entertainment are key to success at SLT…. maybe incubate the idea of a world class athletic-development center…
“Measurement of success” is very key…. a concept that is a learning curve for the City Council, that will be an asset once learned and practiced regularly.
Kae, Thanks for listing things the ciy are looking into as goals! Many of these things I’ve been thinking about for sometime. Much needed and will better our town in a big way!
I hope they all get approved and completed. OLS
It does amaze me that obe if the top things on their list is an improvement to the airport city hall when so mich needs to be done elsewhere that will benefit some many others. This 18 month plan is a great start to getting some projects taken care if and scratched off the bucket list. Keep the momentum going. Once most of these projects are on the way to completion then the focus could be on remodeling the airport.
I’d be happy with sidewalks along the full length of Highway 50. One very inexpensive improvement would be to rename Highway 50 “Main Street.”
Poor little beagle, so confused. That dog has lost the scent long ago. Plenty of good people in the city government.
I agree with Tom Davis, the lobby is fine. 200k? Yikes.
Crack down on the daily/monthly ratbag hotels.
“Councilman Austin Sass advocated for not only renovating the lobby, but expanding the offerings so Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority has a presence and possibly the U.S. Forest Service. The latter could issue wilderness permits from there.”
ROI
During the huge nonprofit golf tournament at Edgewood every summer, it seems that airport is going nonstop for a week or 2, not to mention other peak times. If airport users spend much more $s here, and are more informed of activities here,…. Be interesting to see a competent analysis.
“Walker says
I’d be happy with sidewalks along the full length of Highway 50.”
Trout Creek to the Y(considered the locals area) is a sore subject. Maybe the big last obvious link in the recent huge improvements to nonmotorized pathways in the city.
It is disturbing that repairing and restoring the city’s crumbling streets is not on the list, while a costly plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel the airport lobby is actually being considered, and a testament to continued poor planning, bad judgment, and misplaced priorities. Another day spent on little more than group therapy.
the City used to paint all the City streets twice a year.
you folks look at your neighborhood and see when the last time the STOP bars were painted.
now that the City has an over flow of cash maybe they could paint all the streets.
What the City should do is form assessment districts through out the City and curb and Gutter and repave the entire City, would be great for the land owners and the property values, It could be done over a 30year period and not that big of an increase to the taxes.
Oldtimer, Yes,road overlay for residential streets should be at the top of the list for the city improvements. Expensive? Oh Yeah! Needed? Real soon from what I see.
If the few people that vote around here agree to give their hard earned tax money to patch a leaky roof at the local college,(55 million dollars), well then they can help to pay for our crummbling roads. Potholes forming on my street and the cracks from one side to the other on the street are just getting wider and the cracks aint healin’ up and mending themselves. Nope, it just keeps gettin’ worse.
Take care,Old Long Streets
walker and perry. Re: Hwy 50, its Cal Trans not the city and they have stated that Hwy 50 will be paved to the Y over the next two years and with sidewalks and bike lanes.
oldtimer:
I agree 100% with your suggestion and would add that rebuilding the City’s crumbling streets and addressing drainage issues would also be beneficial for lake clarity. I’d speculate that the majority of the City’s roads were constructed 50-years ago or longer and probably most of that work was done by EDC. I’m fairly certain that the paving materials/methods used back then were not as advanced as what’s available today and would further guess that EDC way back then probably wouldn’t have been too willing to invest much money or effort in paving the roadways of the South Lake Tahoe area.
I agree with OLS that the cost is going to be expensive, that this is needed, and I would add that these improvements are long overdue. I for one would have no problem agreeing to pay an assessment for this investment in my town.
Well first of all why is city hall at the airport, I believe it should be downtown and have a presence like most cities and accessible to all citizens of Tahoe,I mean unless you are sing the airport or eating there how many tourists stop at city hall and is appearance all the important,is that going to help the city make money. Does the city use any solar power or looked into it and the potential to save money? Why not use the $200,000 to hire a small staff of people to be responsible to increase tourism through all our recreational possibilities and give them a set of goals to increase tourism and is they don’t meet it have them move on and get someone else. Does anybody else drive down “Main Street and just think BLAH? Most of the buildings are the same colors and any lots for sale aren’t kept up as well as some existing businesses, I mean look at the space nest to Taco bell where they were building a car wash. Thanks for your time.
Our streets are certainly in a very sad state and it’s disheartening to see this isn’t a priority. Obviously the council has realized that they aren’t going to get away with their lake view offices, and are simply moving on with their goals of catering to their own needs.
Sidewalks and properly marked and painted crossings are sorely needed. Part of the reason we moved here was the ability to walk almost everywhere. To walk my children to school however, I am forced along narrow dirt shoulders to the one poorly marked crosswalk in our neighborhood. No one seems to notice that this even exists, and we have almost been hit several times trying to cross. Surely safe pedestrian access for people who live here should be more of a concern than remodels and an events center.
Streets we don’t need no stinking streets. We should all be walking, riding bikes or taking the bus.
Just like all the STPUD, City, County, Forest Service, State employees and school children.
Reza,
Thanks for the clarification. After CalTrans rehabs the sidewalk fronting 50, I believe the city tends to take care of snow removal.